September 17/11 23:33 pm - Fireman's Cross results, report and photos

Posted by Editoress on 09/17/11

Saturday saw the start of Southern Ontario’s cyclocross season, this year kicking off with the brand new Firemen’s Park Cross. A little over 60 racers plus their friends, families and kids gathered in Firemen’s Park in Niagara Falls on a cool morning for early September – perfect weather for the start of our cross season.

The 10 am start had more challenging conditions than the rest of the day with the ground covered in a layer of dew. Many slid out in some of the slick corners, but aside from Mike Clark’s broken shifter everyone picked it back up and was able to keep racing. Adam Poll (Waterloo CC) took the win in Beginner Men while Angus Botterell (Midweek CC) held on for the Master 3 win. Connor Nevin was the lone racer in the U17 category, marking his first cross race.

11:30 had the Women and Master 2 men take the start, and drier conditions had the course riding much faster. Jamie Schuman and Steve DeBoer of Team 905 quickly established a gap on the M2 field with Jamie pulling away toward the end for a win over his teammate.

In the women’s race Leigh Hobson (The Hub Race Team) established an early lead and held it for the entire race. Julie Marceau (Lapdogs) and Katlyn Dundas (Team Hardwood) rounded out the Elite Women’s podium while in the Master Women's race Jennifer Crake (Lapdogs) outgunned Rachael Mirvish (Wild Bettys) who was making her return to cross after some time off from racing.

A brief intermission from OCA cross was taken while the kids race used a portion of the adult course for a lap around the pond and through the woods.

Just after 1 pm the Elite Men and Master 1 Men took the final start of the day. Erik Box (Nativo) took an early flyer, but the race quickly settled in with Peter Glassford (Trek Canada) in pursuit of teammate (and eventual winner) Adam Morka all day. Nathan Chown (Team CF) and Box chased behind with Mancini (Esteemtraining.com) rounding out the top 5.

In the M1 race Andrew Croutch (The Hub Race Team) rode through much of the Elite men’s field for a convincing win over Demetre Kalkounis (Cycle Solutions) and Pavle Stanojevic (Nacsworld.com).

Finally, we have the winner of the draw prize! It may appear that this was overlooked on race day... because it kind of was. Many people had left by the last podium, and we wanted each participant to have a chance so all the numbers were put in a box and one drawn randomly. Christiane Knobbe is the winner of the WTB LaserDisc Trail mtb wheelset.

Thank you to all of the sponsors listed below, as well as Nathan Chown for “showing me the ropes” as it were when it comes to hosting a cross race.